The Ultimate Snickers Pie Recipe (2024)

Why It Works

Smearing the chocolate pie dough with your palms builds in flaky layers.
The bittersweet chocolate caramel starts out loose but turns chewy and fudgy as it freezes, mimicking the texture of a Snickers bar.
We use a no-churn ice cream technique to make an easy caramelized condensed milk ice cream filling.
The food processor makes short work of a white chocolate and peanut butter ganache that freezes into a streusel-like texture.

The Snickers bar has always been one of Aki's favorite things. She prefers the small ones straight out of the freezer. This iconic sweet inspired something new and delicious. We wanted to take all the elements of the original bar: chocolate, caramel, nougat, and peanuts, and make something new to us. We decided to make it a frozen dessert because frozen Snickers bars taste better than room-temperature ones and we decided to go with a pie because it gave us an opportunity to play with several different textures and ways to amplify flavor.

The Crust

A chocolate pie crust seemed like a no-brainer. After all, a chocolate bar is coated in chocolate and we could do no less with our interpretation. We used a flavorful cocoa to add chocolate flavor to a classic all-butter pie crust. It gave us a crisp texture and deep chocolate foundation on which to build our pie.

To build in some flaky layers, we also incorporated a technique calledfraisage. By placing the pebbly butter-flour-cocoa mixture on a countertop and smearing it with the heel of our hands, we could create alternating layers of fat and flour that separate into flakes as the crust bakes.

The Ice Cream

We knew we were making a complicated dessert here with so many distinct elements, so we decided to keep things simple with caramelized condensed milk ice cream. Rather than make a traditional ice cream base that requires tempering eggs, precise temperature control, and a long chilling period before churning in an ice cream machine, we employed the ingenious no-churn ice cream method.*

*You can read up on thescience of churn-free ice cream in this Food Lab article.

At its core, the recipe is nothing more than condensed milk combined with heavy cream, whipped until stiff, then frozen solid. The sugar in the condensed milk along with the extra air and fat incorporated with the whipped cream creates a frozen mousse with the melting qualities of ice cream.

To capture a bit more of that Snickers flavor in ours, we decided to caramelize the condensed milk into a dulce de leche by cooking it directly in the can inside a pressure cooker (you can also just boil the can in a pot of water for 3 hours if you don't have a pressure cooker).

Once cooled, the caramel goes into a mixer with cold heavy cream for a spin until it's ready to freeze.

The Caramel

Of course we needed something chewy. We are huge fans of hot fudge and caramel sauce. Alex often puts them both on his ice cream sundaes. Since a Snickers bar has both chocolate and caramel, it made sense for us to combine the flavors in a chocolate caramel topping for the pie. Its versatility allows us to line the pie crust with the sauce before filling it and then coat the top of the frozen pie with a thick layer.

We make our caramel sauce the classic way: sugar, water, and corn syrup cooked in a saucepan until it reaches a light amber color, then heavy cream stirred into it off heat.

To this, we add chocolate and salt and stir it all together until the chocolate is fully incorporated.

Over the ice cream, it acts as a pliable frosting, mimicking the wonderful chewy elements of hot fudge and caramel sauce. Against the pie crust it keeps the flaky layers crisp, insulating the pastry from the ice cream while giving the latter something to stick to.

The Peanuts

The peanuts are an integral part of the Snickers bar. We wanted a bold peanut accent in the ice cream filling for our pie. Peanut butter by itself never seems to do the job to our satisfaction. We thought about a peanut ganache. But dark chocolate would over-power the peanut butter. White chocolate, on the other hand, would lend a creamy sweetness that would accent the flavor of the peanut butter. The question was how to bring them together.

In the past we've found that heating peanut butter in low-liquid environments results in a clumpy, grainy mess. As we mulled this over we remembered Alton Brown's cool technique of melting chocolate by puréeing it in a food processor. As the chocolate gets bashed around, friction causes it to warm up, until it reaches perfect ganache temperature and texture.

We tried the same thing with our white chocolate and peanut butter. It started out chunky and rough. But as the mixture slowly heated, it formed a smooth ganache.

It worked like a charm. For that essential crunchy peanut texture and an additional peanut punch, we folded in salted, roasted peanuts. It was something we never would have thought of without this kind of challenge.

Finally we froze the peanut butter to see what the texture would be like in the pie. Alex actually ate a fair amount straight from the freezer. It literally melts in your mouth, coating your tongue with its rich nuttiness.

To incorporate it into the pie, rather than a solid layer, we chopped it up into a sandy, streusel-like texture.

We sprinkled some into the base of the pie crust. We also folded some directly into our whipped caramelized condensed milk mixture before piling it into the empty pie shell and sticking it in the freezer.

Once it comes out, it got another layer of chocolate-caramel sauce, followed by a sprinkling of crushed salted peanuts.

In the end we created an ice cream pie to satisfy anyone who loves a frozen Snickers bar. While all of the elements are good on their own, together they create something truly special and satisfying.

Would anyone like a slice of candy bar for dessert after their meal? (And don't worry, it really satisfies.)

September 2014

Recipe Details

The Ultimate Snickers Pie

Prep70 mins

Cook2 hrs 20 mins

Active2 hrs

Freezing Time7 hrs

Total10 hrs 30 mins

Serves10to 12 servings

Makes1 pie

Ingredients

For the Pie Dough:

150g all-purpose flour
30g natural cocoa powder
12 1/2g sugar
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1 1/2g sea salt
113g unsalted butter, cold, diced
28g ice water, more if needed

For the White Chocolate Peanut Butter:

300g white chocolate chips
290g creamy peanut butter
10g vanilla paste orvanilla extract
150g salted, roasted peanuts(we used the classic Planter’s)

For the Chocolate Caramel Sauce:

250g sugar
50g water
25g corn syrup
300g heavy cream
300g bittersweet chocolate
3g salt

For the Caramelized Condensed Milk Ice Cream:

1 (396g) can condensed milk
970g heavy cream
4g salt
Reserved frozen, streuselized white chocolate peanut butter

To Finish The Snickers Pie:

Reserved chocolate caramel sauce
50g roughly chopped, salted, roasted peanuts

Directions

For the Pie Dough: Combine flour, cocoa, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse them 4-5 times to blend. Add butter and pulse 2-3 times to blend, until mixture looks sandy. Strain ice water into food processor and run processor for 5-10 seconds to bring mixture together. If it seems a little dry, add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time. The dough will resemble small pebbles and hold together when you squeeze a bit in your hand.
Turn dough out onto a floured counter into a pile. Sprinkle the top lightly with flour. Starting at one end, use the heel of your hand to smear a small amount of dough against counter and continue moving through the pile until you have smeared most of it into flakes of dough. Do this quickly, being sure not to work any section of dough more than once. Once all the dough has been flattened, pile the layers up into a stack and gently press into a flattened disc.
Lightly flour countertop and roll dough out to fit into a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Lay dough in buttered pie pan and gently press it into pan. Trim top edges to 1-inch past edge of pie dish. Fold edge under and crimp circumference of dough. Let pie dough rest in freezer while oven preheats.
Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line pie dough with foil or crumpled parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pie weights and return pie dough to oven for 10 minutes more. Pie crust should be fully cooked through and just set. Let cool completely at room temperature.
For the White Chocolate Peanut Butter: Put white chocolate, peanut butter, and vanilla paste into a food processor. Pulse machine 5 times to begin blending ingredients. Once a rough paste forms, turn food processor on and let run for 5 minutes until white chocolate and peanut butter form a smooth, uniform paste. Turn food processor off and add salted, roasted peanuts. Pulse machine 10 times to roughly chop peanuts into white chocolate peanut butter mixture. Put mixture into a plastic container, cover and freeze.
When white chocolate peanut butter is frozen, divide it in half. Reserve half in a covered container in refrigerator or freezer. Chop remaining white chocolate peanut butter into chunks. Put frozen chunks into a food processor and pulse 5 times so mixture takes on a coarse streusel-like appearance. Put sandy white chocolate peanut butter in a covered container in freezer until ready to assemble pie. Remaining white chocolate peanut butter may be kept in refrigerator or freezer depending on what you want to do with it. It will keep for at least 2 weeks in refrigerator and up to 6 months in freezer.
For the Chocolate Caramel Sauce: Put sugar and water into a medium sized saucepan and stir together until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add corn syrup and set pot over medium-high heat. Put a lid on pot and cook mixture for 5 minutes. Remove lid and sugar mixture should be bubbling. Continue to cook without stirring mixture until it reaches between 385-387°F (195°C-197°C), about 10 minutes. Sugar will be a medium amber color.
Remove pan from heat and carefully add heavy cream. The mixture will boil violently. Put pan back on low heat and stir mixture together until caramel is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and let mixture cool until it reaches 130°F (55°C). Add chocolate and salt and stir mixture together until chocolate is fully incorporated.
Take about 1/4 of the sauce and use a pastry brush to spread it evenly over inside of cooled pie crust. Sprinkle half of frozen, streuselized white chocolate peanut butter over sauce, pressing it gently into crust if necessary. Reserve pie crust in freezer until you are ready to fill with ice cream.
Reserve remaining chocolate caramel sauce in a covered container at room temperature until you are ready to assemble pie. If you are not making the pie immediately, store caramel in refrigerator and let come to room temperature before using to finish the pie.
For the Caramelized Condensed Milk Ice Cream: Put 2 inches of water in bottom of a pressure cooker and add a small rack (the rack is usually included with every pressure cooker). Put condensed milk on rack and seal lid. Cook at high pressure for 90 minutes. Alternatively, cook canned condensed milk in a pot of boiling water for 3 hours, topping up the water as necessary.
Allow pressure to release naturally. Prepare an ice bath. Once depressurized, open lid and, using tongs, transfer can of caramelized condensed milk to ice bath. Let chill for at least 1 hour, adding more ice as needed, until completely cool: Do not open can while hot because a hot can of caramelized condensed milk is still under pressure and can erupt.
Put caramelized condensed milk, half of heavy cream and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment. Turn mixer on low and increase speed to medium. Condensed milk will break apart and become absorbed into cream. Continue to whisk, about 5 minutes, until cream begins to thicken and caramelized condensed milk is dissolved in cream. Pour in remaining cream and increase speed to medium-high. Whip mixture until cream is at soft peaks. Turn mixer off and fold in the remaining sandy white chocolate peanut butter. Once inclusion is folded in, pour whipped mixture into prepared pie crust and freeze, uncovered for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight, until firm and frozen through.
To Finish The Snickers Pie: Take ice cream pie out of freezer once it’s fully frozen and use an offset spatula to spread remaining chocolate caramel sauce over top of pie in a thick layer. When ice cream is fully covered, sprinkle peanuts over top. Freeze pie for another hour to set frosting. Remove pie from freezer and let temper for at least 15 minutes. Slice and serve.

Special Equipment

9-inch deep dish pie pan; food processor; pressure cooker; stand mixer with whisk attachment

Notes

This recipe makes twice as much white chocolate peanut butter as you will need. Originally we were going to cut the recipe in half, but after snacking on this straight from the freezer and then imagining it in everything from white-chocolate peanut butter paninis to cookies to pretzel dip, we felt that having a bit extra in our pantry was a good thing. We figured we wouldn't short-change you either.